BaymedixCL 100 by Bayer MaterialScience LLC, Pittsburgh, is a lubricious surface treatment for medical devices that gives a durable coating with a low coefficient of wet friction.

Lubricious coatings are used on a variety of medical devices where clinicians need to reduce the amount of friction encountered between the device and a patient’s tissue. For instance, they give surgeons better handling and maneuverability when performing procedures such as cardiovascular stenting.

Baymedix CL 100 can be adapted to many substrates but is especially suitable for application to elastomeric materials common in catheters, such as polyether-block amide (Pebax), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and nylon. Low coefficients (0.02-0.03) of wet friction have been achieved on several prototype devices.

The coating is directly grafted onto the surface of the medical device rather than applied as a separate coating. As a result, the coating is covalently attached to the substrate for adhesion and durability. This also means an especially thin coating of no more than a few microns.

The activation and surface modification processes take place in aqueous conditions and without solvents that can complicate manufacture. The process is scalable and suitable for various medical devices; raw materials are affordable and no special equipment is needed to cure the coatings.

Especially unique is the product’s ability for the product to be applied to the lumens, or inside surface, of catheters. Lumen coatings are useful where one catheter or device needs to be passed through another. “Because the coating is grown directly from the device surface, there’s really no limit to the part shapes we can treat,” explains Dr. Paul Nowatzki, medical business development manager, Bayer MaterialScience LLC.